PONTIAC >> The Oakland County Board of Canvassers rejected a losing Pontiac City Council candidate’s petition for a recount Monday that, if approved, could have cost the city between $2,000 and $4,000.

Certified election results show Vanessa Coleman, who filed the petition, received 254 votes to winner Doris Taylor Burks’ 370 on, a spread of 116 votes. The two ran against each other in the race for the District 6 council seat representing the city’s near northeast side.

“The board did not feel the petitioner adequately stated any fraud or mistake that had occurred, and that the margin of votes was too significant for only three precincts,” Oakland County Director of Elections Joe Rozell said of Coleman’s petition.

“Everything balances for these precincts perfectly.”

Coleman’s alleged complaints included a supporter of Burks working in the City Clerk’s office, stolen or missing campaign signs and different ordering of hers and Burks’ names on different ballots.

The vote of the four-member board, composed of two Democrats and two Republicans, was unanimous. Rozell said about a dozen people spoke at the hearing.

Burks filed an objection to the recount request.

“I feel that it was a waste of the citizens’ time and waste of taxpayer’s money, because everybody can’t win,” Burks said Monday. “There have to be losers. I have been a loser more than one time, and I’ve never gone to this extent to try to get into office.”

Coleman did not return multiple calls for comment.

Rozell said City Clerk Sherikia Hawkins “did an excellent job with the conduct of the November election, and when we canvassed and certified her precincts here at the county, we did not find a single issue.”

Hawkins said “there was no concrete evidence” supporting Coleman’s allegations.

Rozell said that since the county moved to new electronic voting equipment in 2005, no election results have been overturned by a recount.

Coleman also petitioned the county for a new, special election in District 6, citing “unsportsmanlike conduct” during the campaign and “irregularities” in the election. The Oakland County Clerk’s Elections Division denied the petition on Nov. 14, stating that Coleman did not present facts that showed it was impossible for voters to cast a ballot for her and did not identify specific voting machines that were problematic.

Rozell said state law requires specific tests to be met in order for the results of an election to be invalidated and another held.

“The only time this statute has been used is (when) someone’s name has been left off the ballot and it was impossible to cast a vote for a candidate,” he said.

“Her petition did not list the serial numbers of the specific defective machines that she was alleging, and it also did not allege a single fact that indicated it was impossible for voters to cast ballots for her.”

Advertisement

About the Author

I cover the City of Pontiac, as well as the northern Oakland County communities of Brandon Township, the Village of Ortonville, Springfield Township and Groveland Township. Reach the author at dustin.blitchok@oakpress.com
or follow Dustin on Twitter: @SincerelyDustin.